


somewhere safe

by subject_layla



Series: unrelated related fics [2]
Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Alfred cares, Character Study, Dysfunctional Relationships, Gen, How Do I Tag, Post-Episode: s01e07 The Asylum, no one is coping well, post-traumatic events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 02:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subject_layla/pseuds/subject_layla
Summary: A lifetime ago, when he first put the bright mantle, Dick thought he was invincible. There were cuts and bruises and sometimes even a broken bone or two, but in the end, he would always win, because the good guys always did.He wasn't that naive anymore.Now, he knew that not only sometimes the bad guys won, as sometimes the victory would be bitter. In a war, everybody loses, and his life was an endless war since he was fifteen.Leaving the asylum was that kind of victory. Sweet and sour.





	somewhere safe

**Author's Note:**

> I am pretty obssessed with this show, reading everything I put my eyes on and getting tons of ideas in each episode. I never writed in english before this account, but I'm trying (second try so far, yay). This is a crazy experiment.  
> Be gentle and I hope you liked <3

A lifetime ago, when he first put the bright mantle, Dick thought he was invincible. There were cuts and bruises and sometimes even a broken bone or two, but in the end, he would always win, because the good guys always did.

He wasn't that naive anymore.

Now, he knew that not only sometimes the bad guys won, as sometimes the victory would be bitter. In a war, everybody loses, and his life was an endless war since he was fifteen.

Leaving the asylum was that kind of victory. Sweet and sour.

They weren't victorious, they were survivors. The beating of his young self was crueler than every other he had in his life (and being Batman's partner, he has plenty if his medical record has something to say about it.) but it was not real, it was only in his mind, like the younger version of himself, yelling that Robin was the solution.

Until he screwed everything.

In the exit, before going to the car, he thought about scolding Gar and Rachel about the reckless decision, or just saying they will talk about it later, but when he saw the face of the shapeshifter, the only thing he could think about it was how broken the teen looked. So he decided against it. Rachel looked better, but he knew that she was a little too similar to him in his younger years. She bottled everything until it was too much. And then, she'll explode, like he did when he let the murderer of his parents die before his eyes. The problem was: her explosion could be a little more literal, if he remembered the basement of the Doom Patrol.

Instead of lecturing the teens, the former Robin let Kory drive, without much complain. His mind was still foged, his heart was aching and he didn't know if it was from an emotional turmoil or from a physical situation.

He was just human.

In that group, maybe the most human of them all.

Kory kept silence, not bothering to ask where they're going. She just drove, eyes focused on the road, mind far away. Fear was not something she was used to feel. Not for herself. Anger, passion, even happiness was familiar territory, but fear? Fear seemed a distant concept. Something she felt not for her life, but for others. She sighed. The asylum made a mess in every single one of them.

Her eyes searched for the woman beside Rachel, the opaque hair, the eyes lost in the road, in some kind of trance. From the mirror, Kory could see how Rachel had her arms crossed in front of the chest. How everything about the posture of the teenage said she needed to isolate herself, but at the same time, her hand occasionally brushed Gar's arm, only them she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and opens her mouth, just a little, enough for a small sigh escape.

In that instant, Kory noticed that her own stress was vanishing. There was scars and bruises and memories, but somehow, Rachel was healing them, not in a physical way, it was almost spiritual, ethereal, religious way. And if she had blinked, she would lose it.

"Eyes on the road, Kory", Dick grumbled at her side, his voice hoarse and hurt.

She gave him a pointed look, before looking for the night that plagued them outside. How many miles did they travel? Enough to put that building, and everything that happened there, behind?

No. Not enough, not yet. She thought.

The cellphone that Dick brought with him, lighted again. She thought it was completely absurd how he managed to save this and the car keys in the middle of the chaos. His uniform was lost, but his mind and some of his techs were there, inside that little thing that didn't stop buzzing in the last fifteen, maybe thirty, minutes.

"Your phone is ringing" she pointed.

He blinked, slowly, and looked into the screen. Dick sighed, seem a name he did not expected, but he should.

"You'll not answer?"

The call died again, only for a brief second, making the woman beside him raise an eyebrow. Judging him in silence, with her eyes on the road, her hands tied to the steering wheel.

Dick slid his finger in the screen, bringing the phone to his ear, but not saying anything. Not until a familiar voice called from the other side:

"Master Richard."

If it wasn't from the scars, and the pain, and everything that happened in the last year, he would smile with the concern evident in the voice of the old man. But Dick knew better. The butler had been through a lot in daily basis, and he refused to add one more weight on his shoulders, if possible.

"Alfred", he greeted instead.

For a second, all he could hear was a relieved sigh.

"Thank God you're alive."

The former Robin could swear that his voice trembled.

"Yeah. Something happened?" he asked, because this was Alfred calling him, when he said explicitly that he didn't want any connection with Bruce Wayne. This was Alfred calling after Dick only had done the same when he needed money for Hank and Dawn to take care of Rachel. This was Alfred calling him after Bruce had replaced him with some idiotic, angry, violent kid that was dumb enough to try to steal batmobile wheels.

No one could blame him for the way he prepared himself for the worst, some news from Gotham and clearly not the pleasant type. But he could not handle with Gotham right now, he had two broken and superpowerful teenagers on the back-sit and two crazy women. One he didn't know anything about it except for a rumor, and the other who didn't even knew anything about herself.

Talk about pretty messed up.

And they even had where to stay for the night. The safehouse was clearly compromised, once he didn't know how Adamson escaped for starters. If they come back, there was a chance that they were captured again, he still thought that their scape was too easy. Almost like they were hoped to, or like the people on the asylum was just a useless part of something bigger.

Adamson acted like he was the boss, but maybe the man was just a decoy. A troublesome one, but a decoy, nonetheless.

"Master Richard?"

"Sorry, I spaced out for a moment."

If he could see the butler, he was pretty sure that the man had his furrowed brow. Dick rarely "spaced out", even them, he was listening to his surroundings. It was a curse, one he developed with the years under bat's wings.

"As I was saying, nothing happened in Gotham that can be handled. But master Bruce lost your vitals and..."

"You can say to him that I found his tracking device in my arm and that I am no pet for him to keep this kind of control," Dick interrupted, his anger almost tangible.

"...and his system captured an image of your uniform burning."It was a pause. "We thought you were dead."

"I am alive, Alfred. Thank you for your concern." There was no sarcasm in his voice, only emptiness.

"If you need something, a new uniform, some money, a place to stay..."

Dick looked back for a moment, finding Rachel still awake, but barely. Gar looking through the window, his chin painted with a pink hue for something the man wasn't sure if want to find out. Beside him, Kory looked like she was about to pass away, even if she had her eyes fixed on the road, without even blinking.

"Actually..." he started, taking a deep breath. "We could use some safehouse, just for tonight."

"Where are you?" was a subtle change in the butler's tone. A switch flicked. There was no room for preoccupation, only an analytical mind.

"I'll send you the coordinates in a few," Dick answered. "Thank you, Alfred."

"Try not to get yourself killed, young master."

For a moment, Dick laughed, it was small and dry, but enough to bring everyone's attention to him.

"No promises."

The call ended. There were not goodbyes or "see you soon". In this world, you never knew, so they didn't make any promises. It was simple, yet painful, but it was somehow reassuring to know that not everything has changed.

He sent the location to the man and waited only half a minute to get an answer. An address and a few words.

I'll adjust the security system for you in the meantime.

"Kory, I think I should drive now," he said, and she looked suspicious about it. But she was tired and the conversation didn't escape her mind. So, she just stopped the car on the road side and gave him the keys, walking to the passenger side when he just jumped to the driver's one.

"Where are we going?" she asked when he placed the phone on a support and turned on the GPS.

"Somewhere safe."

For the first time in a long time, he believed in those words.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!  
> xx


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